Improvement in roofing-machines



UNITED STATES CHARLES L. FOWLER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROOFINGMACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 120,153, dated October24, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. FOWLER, of Baltimore city, in the Stateof Maryland, have invented a new and useful double-actingRoofing-Machine, to be called Fowlers Double- Acting Roofing Machine,77and I do hereby7 declare that the following is a full, clear and eX actdescription thereof:

The nature of my invention consists in the combination of an `apparatusfor spreading composition roofing, as will be hereinafter more fully setforth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, Iwill now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which-Figure lis a longitudinal side elevation. Fig'. 2 is a transversesectional elevation through the center of hopper A. Fig. 3 is aperspective view of hoppers O C, showing the operation of lever W.

I I, Fig. l, is a movable bed upon which the roofing is spread. T is acar upon which the movable bed rests. A is a hopper, through which theroofing material passes and is spread upon the bed. O O are hoppersthrough which the sand passes to form the surface of roofing. D is awheel or crank, by which the car is moved back and forth onl the irontrack provided for it. E E 'are debris-boxes to catch the waste materialafter the bed passes hopper A. G G represent rollers used for thepurpose of pressing the felt down to the bed, and to assist in keepingthe bed in its place to receive the material as it passes under hopperA. The rol1- ers are so arranged that they can be raised and loweredvertically by means of suitable levers.

The roofing material is prepared as follows: A sheet of felt is laidupon a movable bed of the car I I, as shown in Fig. l. The hand-wheel l)is now turned, which, by means of the pinion V, attached to the otherend of the hand-wheel shaft, and which gears in the rack F bolted on tothe under side of the longitudinal timber Y forming part of the car,causes the bed to advanc'e. The iirst roller is lowered so as to pressdown on the felt; the first sand-hopper passed is kept closed, but thehot material in hopper A is allowed to fall on the felt. When the nexthopper is ireached the grainedizing is produced by raising the valve atthe bottom of the hopper by means of the lever shown by Fig. 3, whichpermits the sand to fall on the composition, the quantity being'regulated by the lever. After the car has passed the last sand-hopperthe valve is closed and the operation is completed. The bed is nowremoved, and a new bed put in its place on the car and operationreversed, the machinery being double-acting, and so arranged as to workboth ways, the second roller in this reversed action being raised clearof the bed, as the rollers are never intended to come in contact withthe composition, being only used to press down the felt, and to assistin holding the movable bed on the car; hence only one roller is inoperation at a time, and that one the iiirst that the bed passes underin its reciprocating motion.

The material hopper A is made of wood or iron, and is supported from thetrestle or foundation by the uprights, and is held in its place by meansof thumb-screws J J, by which it is made adjustable, so that by raisingor lowering the hopper the roong can be made of any desired thickness,there being gauges H H on the ends of each of the uprights to regulatethe thickness of the roofin g material as desired. The hoppers O O aresupported by uprights from the trestle or foundation, and have openingsin the bottom which are closed by valves R R, said valves being operatedby hand-levers, so that the sand is shut off or let on at pleasure, andby this means the admission and exclusion of the sand is effectuallyregulated.

In laying the felting on the bed I I it is allowed to extend by themouth of the hopper A onehalf` of an inch on the plain side, and twoinches on the selvage side. When used the narrow edge is cut off,thereby leaving one edge square, and the other a two -inch selvage edge,so that each sheet can be nailed to the roof without nailing through thematerial of which the roofin g is composed. The car represented byletter T is composed of two pieces of scantlin g two by six inches, orthree by six inches, set on edge, with binders of the same once in tenfeet apart, thereby making the car strong and perfectly firm and level,the surface of the car being covered with matched boards, and planed olfsmooth and level. The car is supported on iron axles, which have groovedwheels secured to them, from six to twelve inches in diameter. Thesewheels roll on a track of half-round iron of suitable size to correspondwith the grooves in the wheels. The car may be propelled either by ahand-wheel, as shown in the dra-Wing, or by power by attaching aband-wheel on the handwheel shaft. The material hopper A is made fourinches wide on the bottom, being closed with the exception of a spacefull one-half inch wide, which space is allowed for the material to passthrou'gh to the felt or bed. Il I, Fig. l, represents a bed ten orfifteen feet or any desirable Y' length, upon which the felt Yis placed,and which Y an inch above the surface ofthe bed, and extendinglongitudinally to confine the material in place on the bed, and thereare corresponding grooves or recesses on the hoppers to allow the ledgesprojecting above the beds to pass under them.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The roofing-machine hereinbefore described, consisting of thecombination of the movable bed I I, car T, material hopper A, doublehoppers YCV C, and rollers Gr Gr, and all the partsconstructed andarranged to operate substantially as herein described, and for thepurpose of manufacturing as set forth, constituting a reciproca-- ting,double-acting roofing machine.

CHARLES L. FOWLER.

Vitnesses S. C. LONG,

SAML. VVITHEROW. (126)

